BURLINGTON, Vt. – Like plenty of other high school students, a group of about a dozen Vermont teenagers trundled into a youth center one day every week this spring to participate in an after-school program.

But their program was different; it focused on gender.

The nine-week program, partially funded by the Burlington School District, was held at Vermont's Queer Youth Center and called "Gendertopia."

Gay, lesbian and straight students discussed a wide range of topics, from the characters in the book and movie "Twilight," to taking photos around the city that show the different ways gender is portrayed in popular culture.

"Most people come into it thinking, 'Oh, there's two genders and two sexualities' ... ," said David Kingsbury, a 16-year-old junior at Burlington High School who signed up for the program. "People assume it's boy and girl, but it's so much more than that. There's a whole world out there full of different genders."

I'm from about 80 miles south of Burlington and I'd just like to say one thing, Vermonters are a herd that's been diluted considerably by city folks from surrounding states. Me, I'm a real Vermonter. Real Vermonters don't ski.

I don't know, I suppose it sounds ok for the small percentage of kids that actually do have gender issues.

Sounds reasonable enough - 12 or so kids signed up - it's good that they should have a place to discuss these things. Whether it should be run by a school, I don't know, but it should be run somewhere and school is probably the best bet.

How do you feel about taxes you've paid being used for something that conflicts with your personal beliefs?

Paying taxes conflicts with my personal beliefs.

j/k, I think that taxes are a necessity and I've never really objected to paying them in general. However, something that I have always objected to is voting in a duality political system, which elects the people that decide how to spend them. That has somehow never seemed a fair procedure to me, and still doesn't, regardless of the fact that I haven't come up with anything better.

How do you feel about taxes you've paid being used for something that conflicts with your personal beliefs?

And I feel good about it, and I'm glad it happens. It's called democracy.

You vote for people to represent you, and those people make decisions based on what they think it's best for the people who voted them. If you do not approve how they make those decisions, you always have the option of not voting them.

You also have the option to live in a country where democracy does not exist and only minorities get benefits (ie: Venezuela, Cuba...), but I prefer a democracy with an imperfect government, where our leaders do things opposed to my beliefs. It's the lesser of two evils I think.

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